It’s a comforting thing to know what Christ did for us at Calvary. In God’s covenant as revealed through the law and Moses, there was a veil that stood between us and God. But now, we’re able to experience Christ in a very personal way.
2 Corinthians 3:12-18 is a powerful reminder of God’s presence, and the change that comes through our relationship with Him.
The Freedom of the New Covenant
In the Corinthian church, there were issues with being open to false teachers. They were open to false teachers who relied on the Old Testament to contradict the apostle Paul. So here, we see Paul comparing the Old Covenant with the New Covenant and how it provides freedom.
The New Covenant gives us freedom in three ways:
1. We’re freed from the Old Covenant.
When Moses came down from Mt. Sinai with the Ten Commandments, Scripture says that his face was shining. He had been in the presence of God, and it was physically evident. But when the Israelites saw it, they were afraid, and Moses put a veil over his face so they wouldn’t see it.
Therefore having such a hope, we use great boldness in our speech, and are not like Moses, who used to put a veil over his face so that the sons of Israel would not look intently at the end of what was fading away.
– 2 Corinthians 3:12-13 (NASB)
Moses covered his face because it was showing the glory “of what was fading away.” The light was fading, and Moses didn’t want people to see that because they would think God’s presence was fading too.
What Paul is saying is that Moses’s shining face represented the Old Covenant.
In the Old Covenant, we would’ve had to obey the law perfectly in order to be in a right relationship with God. But it’s impossible for us to do that. So God fulfilled the Old Covenant requirements Himself through the life and death of Christ. This established the New Covenant, which frees us from the old one.
2. We’re freed from the veil.
Moses had to put a veil over his face to cover up the evidence of God’s presence. In a similar way, the presence of God is veiled in many people’s lives.
But their minds were hardened; for until this very day at the reading of the old covenant the same veil remains unlifted, because it is removed in Christ. But to this day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their heart; but whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.
– 2 Corinthians 3:14-16
God’s presence is veiled for those who still live by the Old Covenant and can’t see what God is trying to say through His law. It’s also veiled for many who grew up in church and have heard the gospel so many times that they’re deaf to it.
Unless the Holy Spirit touches our heart and lifts the veil, we’ll never see it. As we share the gospel with others, we need to remember this and be praying.
3. We’re freed from our heart.
The third way that we find freedom in the New Covenant is that we’re freed from our hearts. Verses 17-18 say:
Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.
When it comes to our heart, we often have a struggle. We tend to want to follow our heart, but our heart is based in selfishness. So we can’t trust our own heart.
Once we become a Christian, the Holy Spirit takes up residence in our heart and transforms it. For non-Christians, the ego is on the throne. But for a Christian who has surrendered to the authority of Christ, the ego is replaced with Him. He takes control and frees us from our heart of selfishness.
Confidence in the New Covenant
In the midst of COVID-19, we need to realize that Jesus is the absolute. We can be confident that He is in control. Not only is He on the throne of our lives – He’s also on the throne for the entire world. He is in charge of what is going on.
As we face the challenges of this pandemic, we can be bold because we have the presence of God in our lives. He has forgiven our sins and restored us to a right relationship with Him, lifting the veil so that we can actually see and experience God’s presence. Not only that, He dwells within us in our heart. So as we go about our day-to-day lives, we don’t have to depend on our own understanding but on Christ’s leadership.
Devotional streamed on Facebook Live – Thursday, Apr. 2 @ 3:00 PM
